General Chat

The chap from the crematorium did say the slots are usually 30 mins. Let's hope the family can now grieve privately and come to terms with their sad loss altho it will take a long time and little Zane will always be in their hearts.

Lizx

OMGG, amazing.

I am not shocked but think its a sad state of affairs. I wirked as a bed manager in a hospital and can remember senior staff trying to get nursing staff the move a dead patient into the morgue quickly so that the bed was freed up for someone waiting. It used to make me cringe but it was unfortunately neccessary.

Funerals here happen quickly; you are normally buried within 3 days of death but there is no rush during services. They are for the most part amazing affairs and a tribute to the person who has passed.

Poor Mum and Dad in this sad case, it must have been so hard to part with that little baby for a final time.

love T.x

sickos

I can also see it from the other angle. Imagine if you turned up to cremate your loved one only to find you had to stand outside waiting for the last lot to leave. (I so wanted to say "see it from the other side" but thought I'd best not)

personally I have no idea how long my Dad's or nan's cremation ceremony took but they are both etched in my mind.

Someone should have been there to comfort the Mother of this baby.

~~~~~~~~~~~to Jac, ~~~~~~~~~

Great to have a professionals opinion :)

Give Jackson a hug from me.

Lindy ;)))))))))

In fairness to the Funeral Directors involved and the Crematorium Authority I should point out that 25 mins. is the usual time allowed for a funeral service: if the funeral is to be attended by many people (e.g. for some one well known perhaps, or having many friends and relatives) then the Funeral Director would probably have been informed at the time of arranging the funeral that many folk were to attend, and would probably suggested a "double slot" being booked - that is to say, two time slots overlapping, so as to avoid any unseemly rush saying farewells, meeting mourners etc.

In the case of a baby's funeral 25 minutes would normally be more than adequate: I know it doesnt seem a lengthy period but it is considered to be adequate, and I have never ever known a baby's funeral to go over the prescribed time.

A very sad state of affairs for all concerned, I agree, but brought to the attention of the public because the funeral was that of an infant: many other families have been penalised in the same way when funerals have over-run but because it's an adult it doesnt seem so newsworthy: it's not all down to the funeral directors - they can only advise the family and I'm sure on this occasion the mother of the child was advised of the time limit at the crematorium: of course, whether the poor lady took the information on board is another question.

Jac xxx

Personally, I would be inclined to blame the funeral director as he should have made the rules clear. I know nothing of any of this as crematoriums are few and far in between over here.

Both OH and I want to be cremated as neither of us belong here, so it is worth knowing the loop holes before hand.

Lindy

Having seen the person in charge of the crematorium being interviewed today for tv, and heard all the information, it seems the couple haven't even been invoiced so I don't know who told them they were being charged, possibly the funeral director. Apparently if this sort of over run occurs, the crematorium people and funeral director get together to discuss things, probably so they can find out whether something went wrong with their arrangements to cause over run, and therefore stop it happening again. The charge has been waived now, and the man in charge went to the couple and apologised to them.
As Jean said, you can book whatever time you need/want for the service and are charged accordingly but obviously to fit everyone in, they need to know in advance. Perhaps this young Mum had never even been to a funeral or cremation before and would have been so upset anyway she wouldn't have been thinking of the time limits. It was really down to an older member of her family with the funeral director to gently guide her through things and help her leave the baby's coffin.

Lizx

To be fair, they have backed down, due to the extenuating circumstances. Apparently you can book extra time and are charged for it, mainly because of the number of cremations they have to get through in a day. Even so, they could have been more sensitive.

I can understand that poor woman's grief only too well, and being fined for over running the time scale is disgraceful, but what about the other people waiting for their own cremations/funerals to go ahead. It would be very distressing for them not to go in at the time stated, and could cause a lot of problems and have a knock on effect in every way with hearses not being able to go back for the next funeral and so on.

There is only a certain time alloted and I have been to funerals where you come out the back door to look at the flowers and such, and the next lot of mourners are waiting to go in at the front. I don't know who decides on the time allowed, maybe it needs to be lengthened a bit.

Lizx

Thats sad.

DOES EVERY CREMATION OR BURIAL RUN BANG TO THE SECOND???
DOUBT IT.

that is awful how can they do that surley they should take into consideration this poor woman has lost her child as margaret said they have schedules to keep but what is the time limit to say goodbye to someone you love who has died they should be ashamed could they not have had the service then given her a little extra time afterwards so the next cremation could take place

What can I say.........that is just so unbelievable and so heartless. My heart goes out to the parents and family of the baby.

Chris

A GRIEVING MOTHER HAS BEEN FINED £86. BY CREMATORIUM OFFICIALS AFTER SHE SPENT TOO LONG SAYING GOODBYE TO HER 5WEEK OLD CHILD.

SHE WAS ORDERED TO PAY THE PENALTY AFTER SPENDING AN EXTRA 10 MINS BY HER SONS COFFIN.

OFFICIALS AT THE CREMATORIUM IN CROWNHILL, MILTON KEYNES HAVE TOLD HER SHE WILL HAVE TO PAY.